Verdict: Andrew Garfield is superb, Paul Greengrass’s battle scenes hit hard, and the first two-thirds of The Uprising are the most vivid medieval filmmaking in years. Then a late swerve towards myth undercuts the very realism that made it work. See it for Garfield and for the visceral history; forgive, if you can, a finish that reaches for legend when it should have stayed with the people.
England, 1381. Plague has hollowed out villages, taxes have squeezed the survivors, and a ploughman who has lost almost everything snaps when the king’s collectors come calling again. That single act of violence — the killing of a tax collector — becomes the spark for the Peasants’ Revolt, the first great populist rebellion in English history, as thousands march on London to demand justice from a teenage king.
Paul Greengrass, the director of United 93 and the Bourne films, tells that story in his own unmistakable style: handheld cameras, crowded frames, mud underfoot, and a sense that history is happening too fast for anyone in it to fully understand. It is a bold match of director and subject, and for long stretches it works brilliantly.
| Director | Paul Greengrass |
| Cast | Andrew Garfield, Jamie Bell, Thomasin McKenzie, Cosmo Jarvis, Stephen Dillane, Tom Hollander, Jonny Lee Miller, Woody Norman, Katherine Waterston |
| Release date | 11 September 2026 (UK and US cinemas) |
| Runtime | 128 minutes |
| Genre | Historical drama, action |
| Studio | Focus Features |
| Critic score | 56 on Metacritic, described as mixed or average; around 53% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing |
A Rebellion Told From the Ground Up
Garfield plays the Ploughman, a bereaved farmer rather than a born hero, and that ordinariness is the film’s greatest strength. He is not introduced with a rousing speech or a destiny. He is tired, grieving and angry, and the rebellion grows around him almost despite him. Garfield keeps the performance restrained even as the crowds swell — a man trying to hold on to his humanity while history pulls him forward. Several critics singled him out as the film’s anchor, with Empire noting that he has seldom been better, and Screen Rant calling him terrific in a historical epic that rises above its underdeveloped elements.
Around him, Greengrass builds a world that feels lived-in rather than dressed up. The villages are drab and poor, the costumes are worn, and the battle sequences are staged with the director’s usual chaotic clarity: you feel the crush of bodies, the confusion of a street fight, and the terror of a crowd that has stopped being a crowd and become a force. Cosmo Jarvis and Jamie Bell bring fire to the supporting ranks, and Thomasin McKenzie, as Alyce, a follower of the preacher John Ball and a fictionalised amalgam of the women involved in the revolt, gives the rebellion a conscience beyond its anger.
Why Critics Are Divided
The division is not about the craft. It is about what the film does with its own story. For much of its running time, The Uprising is a straightforward, muscular recreation of a landmark event, and its parallels with the present — ordinary people squeezed by taxes, ignored by power, and told to be patient — are clear without being hammered home. IndieWire praised exactly that restraint, while the San Francisco Chronicle called it an energetic, satisfying yarn, all the more surprising for audiences who know little of the history.
The trouble arrives late. Without spoiling the specifics, Greengrass steers the story towards Robin Hood mythology in a way that several reviewers found jarring. After two hours of mud, blood and political grievance, the film suddenly reaches for folklore — and the shift makes the earlier realism feel like a long prologue to a different movie. Filmoria’s review put it plainly: the late swerve undercuts a lot of the historical grit that made the film compelling. Screen Daily, similarly, praised Garfield but found the drama otherwise listless, with a finale that embraces modern blockbuster conventions too cosily.
There is a second, fair criticism: the middle sags. With so many characters and so much crowd movement, several figures fade into the noise, and the film’s attempts to connect the revolt to larger mythology are, as one review put it, less convincing than the revolt itself. If you want a clean hero’s journey, this is not it. If you want a film that trusts you to sit inside a messy, frightening moment in history, it mostly delivers.
Is The Uprising Worth Watching?
Yes — with that one reservation. This is a rare historical epic that treats peasants as people rather than backdrop, and Garfield’s performance alone justifies a cinema trip. The battle staging, the period detail and the sheer anger of the march on London are genuinely immersive, and the film’s moral complexity — a rebellion that is both justified and terrifying — lingers longer than its flaws.
Go in expecting a gritty historical drama, not a Robin Hood adventure, and you will get the film Greengrass does best: ordinary people, impossible odds, and a camera that refuses to look away. Just be ready for a final act that trades history for legend, and decide for yourself whether that trade was worth making.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Uprising about?
The Uprising dramatises England’s 1381 Peasants’ Revolt, following a grieving ploughman whose killing of a tax collector sparks a mass march on London to demand justice from King Richard II.
Who stars in The Uprising?
Andrew Garfield leads the cast as the Ploughman, alongside Jamie Bell, Thomasin McKenzie, Cosmo Jarvis, Stephen Dillane, Tom Hollander, Jonny Lee Miller, Woody Norman and Katherine Waterston.
Who directed The Uprising?
Paul Greengrass wrote and directed the film for Focus Features. It was released in UK and US cinemas on 11 September 2026.
Is The Uprising based on a true story?
Yes, it is a fictionalised account of the real Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, although some characters, including Alyce, are composites, and the film takes dramatic liberties, particularly in its later scenes.
What is The Uprising’s critical reception?
Mixed. It holds a Metacritic score of 56, with praise concentrated on Garfield’s performance and the battle staging, and criticism focused on a muddled middle and a divisive late turn towards mythology.